As per ANNOUNCE #2586, how do priest blessings work now with the Church gone?

Antreus

Are the Church and Shallam unified as  Targossas?

Tecton

Sena said:

Addama said:

According to the Diaspora, basically you can give Blessings to anybody neutral to or allied with Targossas.  Blessing an enemy of Targossas is no-go, Blessing an Apostate/Infernal/Shaman/Occultist is likewise a no.

This is about the mechanical effects, not policy. Do all non-priests get 1/3 benefit from blessings? Does Targossas replace the Church for the purposes of blessings (so Targossians get full benefit, allies get 2/3, enemies get none)?

People with the Healing skill get 100% of the benefit
Targossas citizens and allies get 66% of the benefit
Everyone else gets 0%

Eld

Antreus said:

Awesome @Tecton!

Allies of the priest, or just org allies?

I am assuming you mean only allies of Targossa, which is odd (how is that tracked in-game), because there are priests who aren't apart of Targossa and are morally good characters. Milabar comes to mind.

Is the alignment system still in effect, because I thought it played a part in receiving blessings in the past.

Presumably org allies. Non-Targossan priests get the benefit (I guess maybe only once they embrace), just not non-Targossan, non-allied, non-priests.

Alignment hasn't existed in a long time (I don't know exactly how long, as it was before I started playing).

Sena

I've tried to find the answer to this too, I haven't found anyone who knows or a priest to test it with (and I didn't think to look into it on the test server).

Addama

According to the Diaspora, basically you can give Blessings to anybody neutral to or allied with Targossas.  Blessing an enemy of Targossas is no-go, Blessing an Apostate/Infernal/Shaman/Occultist is likewise a no.

Achimrst

Addama said:

According to the Diaspora, basically you can give Blessings to anybody neutral to or allied with Targossas.  Blessing an enemy of Targossas is no-go, Blessing an Apostate/Infernal/Shaman/Occultist is likewise a no.

Since when? I have blessings!

Sena

Addama said:

According to the Diaspora, basically you can give Blessings to anybody neutral to or allied with Targossas.  Blessing an enemy of Targossas is no-go, Blessing an Apostate/Infernal/Shaman/Occultist is likewise a no.

This is about the mechanical effects, not policy. Do all non-priests get 1/3 benefit from blessings? Does Targossas replace the Church for the purposes of blessings (so Targossians get full benefit, allies get 2/3, enemies get none)?

Antreus

Awesome @Tecton!

Allies of the priest, or just org allies?

I am assuming you mean only allies of Targossa, which is odd (how is that tracked in-game), because there are priests who aren't apart of Targossa and are morally good characters. Milabar comes to mind.

Is the alignment system still in effect, because I thought it played a part in receiving blessings in the past.

How does one become an ally of targossas?

Melodie

Alignment bit the dust pretty early into my Achaea career, maybe when Mel was 40-60 or so? So maybe 2007 sometime, possibly as late as 2008. Good thing too, that crap used to tick me off, having to hunt the ogres first because they'd bring my alignment down towards theirs (neutral) and then bashing evil-aligned orcs to bring it back to seraphim or whatever it was. Madness, I tell you.

As to @Tecton's answer, that's very curious. Does that mean a Cyrenian not allied to Targossas basically gets 0 benefit from a priest's blessings, despite the two classes being accepted in Cyrene? I won't say whether that's a good or bad thing, but I definitely find it interesting and somewhat awkward.

Not my battle to determine, of course, just seems strange.

Carmell

Targossas doesn't accept a lot of allies.  You have to be basically a couple of things.  I'd like to know the answer to allies as well.  I have a couple of people I bless when they ask who are cyrenian and I'd hate to find out because they aren't allied to Targossas they don't get it.

Antreus

It is a bit awkward as @Melodie‌ pointed out: to allow priests in a city and then have another city make demands of them. Cyrene is politically Neutral and aligns with Good: no darkness, no evil, no chaos. But you can't be both according to Targossas. Being a priest in Cyrene would mean something entirely different than being a priest in Targossa. It makes it seem like you're a Priest-on-Lease.

Melodie

That's pretty much exactly how it is at this moment, yes.

Addama

Antreus said:

It is a bit awkward as @Melodie‌ pointed out: to allow priests in a city and then have another city make demands of them. Cyrene is politically Neutral and aligns with Good: no darkness, no evil, no chaos. But you can't be both according to Targossas. Being a priest in Cyrene would mean something entirely different than being a priest in Targossa. It makes it seem like you're a Priest-on-Lease.

Yeah I don't know why anybody would actually want to be a cityless or Cyrenian Priest, given that you have pretty much no rights to be "rogueish" with your class skills. 

Kind of reminds me of this to be honest

Jeslyn

Addama said:

Antreus said:

It is a bit awkward as @Melodie‌ pointed out: to allow priests in a city and then have another city make demands of them. Cyrene is politically Neutral and aligns with Good: no darkness, no evil, no chaos. But you can't be both according to Targossas. Being a priest in Cyrene would mean something entirely different than being a priest in Targossa. It makes it seem like you're a Priest-on-Lease.

Yeah I don't know why anybody would actually want to be a cityless or Cyrenian Priest, given that you have pretty much no rights to be "rogueish" with your class skills. 

Being a priest in Cyrene is like being a missionary in a place that (mostly) dislikes your "home land". It has its ups and downs, but that doesn't mean that work doesn't get done or that it's not enjoyable. Also, when I picked being a priest as my class, I was not picking it for its class skills (even those are a plus), but I legitimately enjoy roleplaying a priest. So not having "rights" to be "rogueish" is not something that bothers me at all. Trust me, this game is rather lax with its rules and punishments compared to other games' churches.

Antreus

Addama said:

That is one of the most amazing pieces of film I have ever seen.

Addama

In case the analogy wasn't clear, @Daeir is the dude on the horse.

Halos

Tecton said:

People with the Healing skill get 100% of the benefit
Targossas citizens and allies get 66% of the benefit
Everyone else gets 0%

This means Cyrenian priests have basically just been wasting mana blessing their citymates since forever.

I find this hilarious.

Austere

66%? Shit, you guys just need icons and I would sign up! 

Addama

Yeah, when the shit do we get an Icon?

Antreus

When the Bloodsworn think you are worthy enough to have one, that's when 

Sena

If I remember right, Tecton said they were holding off on any new icons until after the renaissance, while they decide how to rework the icon system.

Halos

Does this include Bliss, by the way? Or are we just talking about spiritshields?

Jeslyn

I believe devotional abilities are okay... as far as I tested. Bliss gives 3 defenses. I would be interested in knowing if the blessings like endurance and willpower affect people that aren't Targossians (and allies) or priests.

Sena

As the announce says, this applies to endurance/willpower blessings and the three spiritshields. So no, if you aren't a priest or a citizen/ally of Targossas, none of them will do anything for you (except act as an extra buffer against stripped defences).

Halos

ANNOUNCE NEWS #2586                                     (08/21/2007 at 10:31)  

From   : Clementius, the Weaver

To     : Everyone

Subject: ReWeaving Blessings

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blessings have changed today!

Your class and relationship to the Church are critical in

determining if, or how much, a blessing will benefit you.

Church members and all priests (yes, all) will gain the

full benefits of all blessings.

Church allies will gain about two-thirds benefit.

Church enemies will gain no benefit whatsoever.

Everybody else will gain about one-third benefit.

What blessings? The blessings we are referring to are

willpower, endurance, and the three Spirit shields.

Full effect means just like things have always been until now.

 

Penned by my hand on the 5th of Lupar, in the year 458 AF.

Jeslyn

I could read the announcement... but...

Achilles

Should make Cyrenian Paladins (or Paladins in general) eligible for the 66% defense.  Otherwise seems fine to me

Aodfionn

Things are in motion on the player-driven end of things to push for something that will allow that problem to be fixed IG rather than implemented via code. 

Melodie

That's awesome news to hear.

Aerek

Achilles said:

Should make Cyrenian Paladins (or Paladins in general) eligible for the 66% defense.  Otherwise seems fine to me

Cyrenian Devotion users should probably all be Targossian allies. They already have to join the Diaspora, so that sounds like a simple addition. (And the first real practical use of city allies altogether.)

Kione

Very interesting... I've always thought that the entire Healing skill represented a direct manipulation of the elemental and spirit channels and consequently existed outside of the Bloodsworn Gods' domain. Because of this, the Church/Targossas strictly punished blessing Evil and Chaotic adventurers, who would potentially use their blessings to threaten Creation. I feel the significance of blessings and their distribution weakens considerably when blessings cannot affect individuals unallied with Targossas...

I can always search around IG for an explanation, but if there is a straightforward reason why blessing effectiveness has been written into the game code, I would love to hear it.